Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

Like a high school overachiever on caffeine pills... I'm so excited and I'm so scared. (God, I hope none of you poor souls get that joke. ;> )

Seriously, I generally consider the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone to be good news. We needed a show of power like that. I've been impressed with how organized and focused they've been in taking charge. I know there's a strong historical precedence for actions like this provoking real and permanent change.

I'm also so worried that they're walking right into a trap. The right-wing media machines are going to spin this like crazy. I honestly *don't* know if it's going to end in state violence since this is all a war of optics. (I know, I don't like that term either, but it fits.)

The sensible thing for both sides to do now is negotiate, but I don't trust the SPD, let alone whoever else might get called in, to be sensible. And this is right in Trump's most irritable spot: a sign that he's not in control.

I don't think I could ask the people occupying Capitol Hill to back down. They know what they're getting into and I'm proud of everything I'm hearing about how they're handling it. There's so much at stake here, and no amount of "good behavior" was ever going to fix it.

I just can't imagine that, even if Trump is just going to bumble through as usual, someone in power didn't have a plan for this. I can't imagine that they're going to take it lying down. And meanwhile, I'm terrified that this is going to become a breeding ground for all the human weaknesses that *always* end up keeping the Nice Things out of our grasp.

At least they haven't fallen apart in a race to out-dogma each other like OWS did. I have a lot of hope here. But we can't afford to screw this one up... and we usually do. *sigh*

IMHO this is the money quote:

Okay, but WHY are all cops bastards? A penitent ex-cop tries to answer this question.

https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759

@hystericempress Holy crap, I had NO IDEA he was an essayist.

I can't stop giggling about this, especially since Peg is the resident witchlady and Rez's current form is a centaur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urmahlullu

@Leucrotta @anthracite Peg picked the color scheme so most likely not intentionally!

@kistaro @anthracite Tch, Mars is nothing if not civilized! *proves as much by putting your head in her jaws and NOT crushing it* =^_^=

@spacewastrel@yiff.life Yeah. Those were good days. *bows head quietly*

ME: hey queer friends what are we up to today

QUEER FRIENDS: oh hey we're entrusting the semantic implications of a typographical space to the same people who were determined a tweet about feral hogs was a racist dogwhistle

ME: ok neat have fun guys i'll be back in 30-50 months after headdesking 3-5 times 😽​

It dawns on me that some of you have never seen The Empress of Mars* in her full glory, and I ran across these images while tidying up my desktop. Both pics are by the gracious and talented @anthracite. The first is our old threesome with @acetone_kitten; the second is Rezeya's current, manticore form, which I earned fair and square by paying my own damn rent for the first time in this relationship. *blush*

There is no need to avert thine eyes, small tasty mortal! Her Majesty has tikka masala on the way and is barely even hungry! 😽​

*disputed

@xinjinmeng *highfive*, 'cause I mean, homicidal psycho jungle cat/known disease vector.

@Austin_Dern And I just want to hop up and scream, "Yes, it is fiction, it is FUNDAMENTALLY INCOMPATIBLE WITH OURS BECAUSE THE LAWS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT DO NOT APPLY THERE EXCEPT AS AN ILLUSION."

@xinjinmeng Also, I hate to say it, but if people are a bit quiet about your work sometimes, it might be less "not queer enough" and more "too hip for the room." I say this without a particle of sarcasm or irony. There's a certain level of cultural awareness that's needed to really get where your art is going, IMNAAHO, and... yeah, it's the damn furry fandom, bless their hearts. :>

@xinjinmeng And I don't say it often enough because you *can* be a little intimidating sometimes... but yeah. We've noticed. The Gang Of Four are a force of nature and I'm glad they're out there. <3

@xinjinmeng I wish we had a way to get you chatting with Postrodent/Acetone Kitten at a con, particularly about their experiences at the Transcending Boundaries con... and their discovery for the first time of a functional "queer but None Of The Above" box. It was a really transformative experience for them and I wish a similar good experience on you. <3

*cougheuphemismtreadmillcough*

(Wait, wait. Is it "euphemism treadmill" or "euphemism tread mill?" I mean, it's objectively true and it's very important. 🙄​)

@001zlnv @anthracite Whelp, got *my* new OC...

@anthracite I think my new choice of euphemism for "transperson" is "Earnest Young Millennial." You know, kind of like "Friend of Dorothy" only much less fun to be around. >;D

@Austin_Dern Yeah, treating a comedy like it's even got Heavy Canon in the first place is a particular pet peeve of mine. One of the reasons I love Red Dwarf so much--because it actively works to make nitpickers' lives miserable. Same with the Simpsons meticulously eliminating EVERY possible state for Springfield to be in over the years...

(To be fair, it's the start of Pride Month and I'm forced to concede that "hit it repeatedly with a brick and then maybe step on it" actually seemed to work out pretty well for us at Stonewall...)